


Souls 101 (Sans/Reader)

by Otteration



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Awkward Flirting, College, F/M, Fluff, Help, Here we go, Professor!Sans, Slow-ish burn, Teacher!Sans, how do people write slow burns oh my god, i ordered a sans plush from fangamer and he’s almost here, i want to get to the smooches already but i'm controlling myself, idk how this is going to turn out, im excite, im improvising, im trying, join me for the ride, my updating schedule is NOT consistent like at all
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 16:48:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16978311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Otteration/pseuds/Otteration
Summary: 2 years ago, monsters made it to the surface. They were greeted with hate as well as compassion. Eventually, most of that hate had dissipated. And so, your college started up some monster classes.You'd been lucky enough to get a spot this semester-"Intro to Souls", taught by a skeleton who was just a little too charming.





	1. Early Bird Gets the Awkward Tension

The crisp autumn air hit against your cheeks like pebbles, stinging with small blow darts to the face. Your hands were tucked in your pockets, clutching onto car keys and 7 bucks in cash. The quiet courtyard echoed with the tapping of your shoes as you made your way to the campus entry. 

This was your third year at University, and you had your fair share of college slip-ups. Whether it was skipping class, working on essays the night before, or just forgetting about finals altogether; this year was going to be different, as the cliche goes. This year, a brand new class arrived on campus, and only about 20 students were let in. It was a “test run”, so they said. Despite being so late to apply, you managed to snag a spot. As excited as you were, you got to school incredibly early, so you ended up taking a quick walk around campus to cut time. 

The trees were swaying with a slight give to their naked branches. Small birds ran across the ground picking up any sort of thing they could find to fill their bellies. And you were left to your thoughts. 

As of the past couple years, monsters had come around. The ones you’d met were friendly enough, but you’d heard stories about some being… not so friendly. You didn’t pay mind to it, however. A lot of humans were not so friendly too, and they didn’t spend years underground. 

You supposed that’s why you were so excited for your new class. Learning about monsters was an incredibly interesting idea for you. While underground, nobody ever talked about them much. As if humans didn’t even want to acknowledge the fact that they’d sent an entire race running into the dirt. You knew that they didn’t. 

You pulled your phone out and glanced at the screen. Your eyes shot up and you immediately quickened your pace. Almost to a run in fact. You’d be damned if you were going to be late to your first class of the new year. 

With anxiety ridden strides you speed walked through the entry doors and down several hallways. Winding left, then right, then left again. You glanced at the wall clock protruding from the wall as you ran. You had 5 minutes. Too close for your own comfort. A few more dashes to the right and you found it. Room 1-25. You stopped at the door to compose yourself and inhaled sharply. Your hand slipped around the doorknob and the soft creek of wood echoed through the empty room. All chairs were vacant, except for one at the head of the classroom. 

There, sat a skeleton. His feet kicked up on the desk and an arm dropped lazily over his face, blocking the light. He looked to be sleeping. With an awkward tug on your bag, you moved softly over to the chair closest to the window on the far side. Was it too ambitious to sit in the first row? You decided that, yes, it was, and sat one row back from the desk. 

The walls were covered with newly painted grey, but were void of any pictures or posters. Except, near the door were a mandatory sexual harassment flier was taped. A chalkboard hung confidently on the wall behind the skeleton. The word, “sans” was written in white chalk. You huffed, disappointed it wasn’t at least attempted to be written in the font. 

A soft groan came from the monster in front of you and you immediately held your breath tight. His arm fell loosely to his side with his eyes still closed. You stared confused, wondering how a skull could even blink. His feet still stretched across the wooden tabletop, crossed in an easy manor. You took the moment to analyze him further. You hadn’t seen any skeleton monsters afterall. 

A cool grey button down shirt under a black tie was tucked into black dress pants. Both items of clothing were rather wrinkly. A black belt with a silver buckle was rested upon his waist and black fairly nice oxfords were tied on his feet. You were surprised at how full he looked, being bones and all. 

His brow bone twitched and a soft snore escaped his nose. You scanned his chest for signs of life and he was, in fact, breathing. Without lungs you would never understand. Suddenly, you felt all to imposing as you watched the skeleton sleep. With a braveness you didn’t really wish was there, you cleared your throat a little louder than necessary to wake him up. 

With a snort and wide eyes he shot up in his chair, causing it to roll backwards just a bit. You held back a small laugh. His eyes switched to you and his teeth stretched into a smug grin. 

“didn’t realize i’d have company so early in the mornin’,” he said, now leaning his elbow on the desk. “why ya here?”

“Um… for… class?” you squeeked. It was far more pitiful than you intended. 

“that a question or a statement”? His head now rested in his hand, looking at you softly with his brow raised. 

“Statement?” 

He chuckled at that one and leaned back into his chair. 

“seems we got a confident one. class doesn’t start for another 30.” he stated blankly. You blinked. Glancing at the clock, you realized he was right. With a groan you wrapped your arms around your head and sunk into your seat. How could you be so stupid? “hey it aint no skin off my bones. no sweat, kid. not like i was doin anythin anyway.” he shrugged. 

“I’m sorry, sir-” you began. The skeleton put a bony hand up and shook his head. 

“call me sans.” 

You nodded swiftly and turned your head toward the clock. 27 more minutes of this… With nothing to say, you both sat in a newly found silence. Your eyes couldn’t decide between the window or the door, so you looked at Sans. His eyes were closed again. 

“this your first monster class, kid?” he said, eyes still shut. 

“Oh, yeah. Well, I mean, it’s the  
one, so…” you trailed off. This was becoming increasingly uncomfortable. 

“that it is…” he chuckled. Opening his eyes once more, the monster looked at you. “whats the name?” 

“Intro to Souls”? You answered confused.  
“i mean  
name,” he grinned. Your face flushed and you answered with embarrassment in your voice. Why were you being so weird? It’s not like you haven’t had conversations with your professors before. You don’t know why, but you raised your hand. He looked at you a moment before smiling warmly. “yes?” 

“What are souls exactly? I mean, I know the meaning behind them for humans, but for monsters it’s different, right?” 

He nodded. 

“So?” 

“gotta wait till class starts for me ta be answerin’ all these questions,” he smiled. You huffed. Guess awkward silence was his preference. 

The minutes ticked by forever and ever so it seemed, until finally a few more faces came through the door. A girl with chestnut hair walked in, clutching her backpack to her chest. Her eyes glanced to Sans, then met yours. She walked over to your side of the room and sat two seats to your right. She was followed by a boy you’d seen from last year. Spiky red hair and gages. One of the more hard core drinkers. He sat closest to the door. 

Little by little, students shuffled into the class and took their seats. Many steered clear from the back row which seemed to be a good sign. Just as the clock hit 10:00, Sans grin widened. 

“hey,” he waved nonchalauntly. A couple kids returned his greeting. “glad to see everyone showed up today. formalities aint really my forte so, skip the professional titles and just call me sans.” he sat a bit straighter in his chair. “first days gonna be a bit of a bummer, but stay with me, and we’ll be outta here in no time,” 

The class went on with the normal first day lecture. Sans talked about the syllabus and where to find him if any questions would need answering. A few students went off topic and asked about monsters and more specifically skeletons. Which you couldn’t deny in being interested in. 

“You got lungs in there?” a boy with long blonde hair asked. Your eyes drifted from him back to Sans, curiouser and curiouser. 

“man, you can see right through me pal. But nah, gotta breathe somehow though right?” his obvious dodge of the question had the whole class wanting to know more. 

“What’s it been like on the surface for you?”

“fine.”

“How do you stay together? Like why don’t you just fall apart?”

“magic.” 

“Is there going to be any extra credit?”

“ya shouldn’t need it, but maybe.” 

You just listened as questions were being fired at the poor guy. He didn’t seem to mind, though. He scanned the room with a calmness you haven’t seen before. Either calmness, or just plain laziness. You wondered if he even wanted this job. 

“alright, im bone tired of all these questions so i guess we’ll start the fun stuff next time,” nobody seemed to acknowledge his word play and left the classroom as swiftly as they had come. Just as you had been the first one there, you were the first one out. The skeleton’s eyes drifted to you.

“You never answered my question about souls,” you inquired. 

‘ya never asked,” he smiled. You felt cheated. Why would you ask again? That seemed silly. 

“Fine. I have a different question for you.” you sat up examining his eyes again. “How do you blink? Your bone right? How can bone move so fluidly like that?” 

“same as I breathe, eat, and drink,”  
“Right. Magic.” you rolled your eyes and he chuckled. 

“you were listenin’” he leaned back into his chair once more, his eyes still on you. “careful kid, anymore questions and i might already be choosin teachers pet,” the way he said that last part seemed deeper than he’d been talking that whole hour and a half. It sat in the pit of your stomach for a moment and you coughed. 

“Thanks for putting up with me earlier. I won’t mess up on time again,” you tapped your phone screen and smiled, getting out of your chair. You swung your bag over your shoulder and began to walk towards the door. Your hand wrapped around the doorknob again and a deep voice replied from across the room. 

“its fine. wouldn't mind if ya did it again,” 

You froze for a moment before gathering yourself together once more and rushing out of the room. The soft click of a closing door yelling at you from behind.


	2. Coffee and Cat Food

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “can’t argue with you there, paps.” Sans looked at his brother and back to you. It seemed he almost forgot you were there. 
> 
> “WHO’S YOUR HUMAN FRIEND?” his brother looked at you and smiled even bigger than Sans ever had. 
> 
> “seen ‘er around work,” technically, he wasn’t wrong. But his slight lie sent butterflies to your chest.

As you sat on the couch watching reruns and eating a frozen dinner, your mind wandered to the events of your first day. All your classes held promise. Art was full of kind faces that continuously complimented your sketchbook that you were convinced to bring out. Calculus was going to be awful, but at least you knew the girl who sat next to you. Her brains were definitely one of her stronger attributes. You mentally congratulated yourself on the lucky break. Your English class was one that was going to require a lot of self restraint as many of the class discussions already involved politics. Of course, as predicted, your Souls class was going to be your favorite. The small group of 20 was just as curious about monsters as you’d hoped. 

Against your will, your mind drifted to your new professor. Still racking your brain trying to figure out just how his body managed to do the things it did. That could be taken an entirely different way out of context. It’s a good thing nobody was going to hear that thought. Ever. You were aware that monsters did indeed have magical abilities, so his response wasn’t completely unexpected; but you wanted to know the intricacies. Asking that sort of question would certainly cause an awkward situation this early in the semester. So in that moment you decided against it. 

You glanced at the clock and sighed. You were tired enough as it was, but it was barely even 9. Would you be super lame if you went to bed right now? Probably. With swift hands you grabbed your phone and searched through your contacts. The name Angie appeared quickly. 

‘So excited to fight through some math with you this semester! :)’ 

You hit send and set your phone down on the coffee table once again. You weren’t expecting a reply for awhile so you forced yourself off the couch and into the bathroom. You stared in the mirror for a moment, acknowledging your sleepy appearance. A hand ran through your hair and moved around, causing your locks to fall where they decided to. 

“Time for a shower,” you made a face at your doppelganger and twisted the shower on. Steam almost immediately climbing toward the ceiling. You stripped off your clothes and hopped in the burning water. With a small yelp your body recoiled, desperately trying to avoid getting burned. You grumbled and turned it down only slightly until your body shrugged into submission. No lukewarm showers for you, no sir.  
Sir. 

You suddenly remembered the way Sans reacted at that word. The guy really didn’t like authoritative titles did he? Not that you were complaining. Calling a professor by some title always felt too impersonal. You were bound to get to know them at least a little better, so might as well “skip the formalities”. Now that you thought about it, it was kind of nice to break that barrier with Sans. Seeing him asleep really put things into perspective. He was just some guy- well, skeleton, that snagged a job. No point in being weird about it. 

You’d already been pretty weird about it today, though. Maybe it was because he was a monster. Just something new-ish to see twice a week. That must be it. 

You placed your head under the steady stream of water and shut your eyes. It still was burning your skin a bit. You went through the extremely exciting process that is a shower, and jumped out. As soon as icy air touched your bare shoulders, you immediately wished to be back under scalding water. You wrapped a towel around your chest and held it in place before opening the door and walking down the hall to your room. A small meow echoed from behind you. 

“What’s up, Oli?” you halted and turned around. The fluff ball of a cat simply sat and looked at you, swishing his tail. You’d named him Oliver, after Oliver and Company, one of your favorite movies as a kid. Although, he looked nothing like the main cat. Instead of orange short hair, he was colored with browns, blacks, and whites. His fur was considerably longer in spite. You smiled at him and walked into your room. 

You scanned through drawers and hangers for some comfy sleepin’ clothes. You settled on some grey shorts and an oversize t-shirt your sister got you from a yard sale. It still kind of smelled like cheap cologne. 

You sauntered back to the living room, switched off the TV, and snagged your phone from the coffee table. Angie had replied. 

‘Hey me too! Let’s hope exams don’t kick our asses too bad. Let me know if you ever need some help.’

You smiled at your screen and began typing out a reply. 

‘You callin’ me stupid Ange?’

She replied immediately this time. 

‘Me? Never. :)’

You giggled softly and yawned. Was it at least 10 yet? Sure was. You set a few alarms for the morning to ensure your rise and shine and clicked your phone off. Snuggling into your covers, switching off the light, and laying in silence. At least for a moment. A tiny jingle ran from your hallway and sprung onto your bed. You were greeted with a much too fuzzy tail to the face. You spat hair out of your mouth and groaned. 

“Oliver! It’s bedtime, jesus.” you smiled despite the annoyance, and ran a hand along his back, He snuggled near your hip and began to pur. “Thank you.” Silence once again. In darkness, you stared at the ceiling, lost in thought. Of course now when you want to get some much needed rest your mind wanted to keep you awake. 

Of course it thought of skeletons. Magic ones at that. 

“Sans, Sans, Sans,” you said to nobody in particular. With a sigh you imagined his face near yours so you could just stare at him while he blinked. Maybe you could catch something change as his eyes lidded. Maybe you could poke his face to see if it was actually more like putty than bone. The deeper in thought you went, the more inappropriate the thoughts became. You became stumped as to how you could even think inappropriate thoughts about a skeleton. 

But still, being teachers pet might be nice.

Wait what?

What did that mean? Why did that thought come into existence? You flushed and covered your face with your hands. It had been one day! You needed sleep. You desperately needed sleep. You weren't thinking clearly, of course. 

With a heavy sigh and embarrassed cheeks, you rolled over onto your side and pulled the covers to your neck, ignoring Oliver’s mews of protest. 

Maybe you’d show up to Souls class early again. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The blaring sound of foghorns slammed you into a state of consciousness. Your eyes shot open and your eyes squinted at a newly present light. You groaned and checked the time. 10:30 as expected. Luckily you didn’t have any classes today. For some reason, beyond your own comprehension, you scheduled all of your classes for the same days. It was kind of refreshing in a way. Not having to be somewhere was nice. 

You stretched your arms toward the sky and gravity shot them back down onto the bed. Oliver had moved towards your feet in the night. He’d had experiences with your heavy limbs in the morning, and he wasn’t interested in gaining more anytime soon. 

You swung your legs over the side of your bed and onto the cool carpet. Yawning and stretching once more, you heaved your tired body upright. Walking clumsily to the kitchen to make some coffee. 

Yawning continuously and shivering from cold tile against soft feet, you stumbled through drawers and cabinets. You couldn’t find your go to coffee anywhere. With a sigh you looked toward the fridge. On the dandelion yellow door hung a sticky note. 

Grocery List:  
-TP  
-Cat treats  
-Laundry soap

You huffed and quickly wrote down “coffee” in capital letters. It was a nice enough morning. Maybe heading out to grab some wasn’t a terrible idea. You felt a brush against your leg and looked down. Oliver was rubbing against you staring up and meowing. You glanced at his bowl and sighed. Taking out a pen, you returned to the sticky note and wrote, “cat food”. 

A trip to the grocery store wasn’t a terrible idea either. 

In a flash you brushed your teeth, brushed your hair, and jumped into some cozy clothes. Leggings, a sweater, a winter coat, and a beanie for good measure. With that you began to leave, looking back at Oliver who looked disappointed. 

“Don’t worry buddy, I’ll be back soon with your breakfast.” you then shut the door and went on your way. 

Your location was right smack in the middle of a cute area with everything being fairly close together. Your grocery store was just a few blocks, there was a gas station, a park, an elementary school, a community garden, and more. It gave you a reason to walk instead of drive for once. They’d just added a new Starbucks on the corner as well. That’s your destination. 

You opened the glass doors and immediately felt the warmth and smell of coffee beans. It was heavenly. The red of your cheeks began to calm as you walked toward the counter. You greeted the barista warmly and ordered your drink along with a fresh croissant. You paid, took your items, and sat at a small table in the back of the store. You could feel the icy chill pulsating from the window to your right. 

With the heat of freshly brewed coffee on your hands, you sighed. You were glad the place was pretty abandoned this morning. Peace and quiet was something you needed. Your thoughts last night were ones you’d really rather not revisit. Any soft of thought like that should be completely tossed out the window. Not only because he’s a skeleton, and honestly how would that ever work, but because he was your professor. That’s a big no no. He probably would shut you down anyway. 

You froze and blushed slightly. 

It’s not like you wanted to ask him out! That’s ridiculous. It’d been one damn day of school. This could not be happening. 

“It’s not. It’s not happening.” you tried to convince yourself as you took a sip of caffeinated goodness. The warm tingly sensation went down your throat and settled into your stomach, warming your entire body instantly. You shut your eyes and sat back into your chair. You definitely weren’t regretting leaving the house this early. 

“hey pal,” you froze. The universe was against you. 

Slowly, you opened your eyes and glanced at your left. There stood a skeleton. He smiled his big goofy smile at you. Quickly you shot upright in your chair and cleared your throat. 

“O-oh! Hi sir- I mean… Sans. Hi, Sans,” you mentally screamed at yourself. 

“fancy meetin’ you here. how you bean?” 

“Bean?” you asked. 

“oh don’t make me explain it to ya kid… ruins the pun.” Sans rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged. Did he just make a pun with the word pun? 

“Ridiculous…” you breathed, just staring into his sockets. He almost didn’t hear you. Almost. 

“ridiculous huh? damn, really thought you’d like that one a latte,” 

“Sans!” you couldn’t hold back a giggle at that one. His grin widened and he motioned to the seat across from you. 

“this seat taken?” you shook your head and took another sip of your drink. You both sat in uncomfortable silence. He just stared at you. You kept drinking your coffee. Your eyes desperately searched for something less attracti- awkward, to look at. You sipped your coffee again. “you sure like that, huh?” he cocked an eyebrow at you and looked at the coffee in your hands, then back to your face. Was really everything you did embarrassing? 

“I-I’m sorry, I’m not usually like this. I just thought that maybe if I had something in my mouth I wouldn’t say anything stupid.” That was stupid. 

Sans’ cheeks immediately flushed a bright blue and his eyes widened. He looked away sheepishly. Your cheeks burned as well as you realized your mistake. 

“Oh god… I really need to shut up…” you put your head in our hands and groaned. 

“don’t worry ‘bout it.” he said flatly. Despite your embarrassment, you really began to wonder why he would even blush at that. Skeletons don’t have anything like that. “just a slip a the tongue, right?” your head shot up and he was winking at you. A smug grin wide across his face. He couldn’t hide the small blush across his cheeks still. 

“I have to go buy cat food!” you nearly yelled and got up from your seat. Sans’ eyes followed you. “It was lovely seeing you, Sans, but I really need to get going!” just as you began to gather your things, the doors to the coffee shop busted open.

“SANS! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO WAIT FOR ME!” another skeleton appeared. This one was considerable taller than Sans, though. His voice was considerably louder as well… Sans turned in his chair and waved. 

“sorry bro, saw a friendly face. besides, you really need to learn to- ketchup,” Just as he said the last word, he pulled a small packet of ketchup out of his pocket and held it up, smiling. 

“I SWEAR YOU CARRY THAT AROUND SOLELY FOR THE PURPOSE OF JOKES!” the tall skeleton walked over and stood with his hands proudly on his hips. “YOU’RE THE ONE LAGGING BEHIND ALL THE TIME ANYWAY!” 

“can’t argue with you there, paps.” Sans looked at his brother and back to you. It seemed he almost forgot you were there. 

“WHO’S YOUR HUMAN FRIEND?” his brother looked at you and smiled even bigger than Sans ever had. 

“seen ‘er around work,” technically, he wasn’t wrong. But his slight lie sent butterflies to your chest. 

“LOVELY TO MEET YOU HUMAN! I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS!” he held his arms out and immediately wrapped you into a hug. His bones pushed against your skin and you squeaked. 

“L-lovely to meet you, Papyrus.” he let you go and stepped back. His face screamed kindness, and you immediately felt bad for wanting to leave. “Really, you’re too kind, but I need to go to the store and get food for my cat. I hope to see you around, though?” you tried to be as polite as possible, but his face deflated. Sans’ did a little as well. Suddenly, Papyrus’ face beamed once more. 

“WE COULD COME WITH YOU! WE’D LOVE TO HELP YOU IN YOUR CAT FOOD ENDEAVORS!” 

You looked surprised at that. Sans and you shared a look. 

“i really think she’d rather go alone-”

“NONSENSE! LET’S BE OFF!” with a swift turn, his scarf whipped around and he began walking towards the exit. Sans sighed and looked back to you. 

“sorry kid, he means well,” 

Looks like you couldn’t back out now. 

“It’s fine. I suppose I could use some help.” 

“good.” Sans shoved his hands into his pockets and walked toward the doors. You waited a beat before following suit. 

Oliver better be glad you love him…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's what Oliver looks like in case ya care.
> 
> Sorry if you're a dog person. I have both so I can't choose. ANYWAY ily bye. 
> 
> P.S.   
> I'm being lazy with puns and I apologize.


	3. Grocery Store Shenanigans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't expect this to take as long as it did, but here we are. It's kind of a filler chapter and I apologize! I'm way too excited to get into the nitty gritty. I have so many plans...
> 
> I hope it doesn't seem like reader doesn't like Paps. Someone who's socially constipated is gonna have to get used to that much energy. 
> 
> I also tried to pick up my pun game. 
> 
> P.S. I got an ugly Christmas sweater that's blue and has a pun on it. Needless to say, I'm feeling very Sans-esc.

You and Sans followed behind Papyrus quietly. You both seemed to be slightly mortified of the way this day was going. You snuck a few glances at the skeleton to your left and finally realized he was dressed rather sloppily. He wore a plush looking blue jacket with a white lined hood. You couldn’t tell if it was wool or fleece but either way it looked comfortable as hell. Underneath appeared to be a plain white t-shirt, which was hopelessly wrinkly. Black basketball shorts with a white stripe down the side stopped just at his knees. Your smile widened once you saw the dirty pink bunny slippers on his feet; which were accompanied by white calf socks. 

His hands were tucked securely in the pockets of his jacket and a puff of breath lifted from his mouth and into the autumn air. His eyes were lidded and tired. You were tempted to ask about his sleeping habits, but that seemed a little personal. Instead, you resulted to the only thing you really had in common. 

“You excited for this semester?” you questioned the skeleton and watched his grin twitch up. 

“s’pose so,” Sans simply shrugged. “you?” his eyelights glanced over at you for a moment. 

“Yeah! Got a good teacher I think,” you smiled, and Sans chuckled and turned his head to look at you directly. 

“oh? how can ya tell?” his eyes lidded down, challenging you. You suddenly felt warm. 

“Uh… well, I’ve never met a skeleton monster before. He seems… nice?” your cheeks were burning and your hands were playing with the strings of your jacket. 

“hm. that sounds more like a question, kid,” his brow bone arched. 

“I-I mean! He is nice! For sure! I just… don’t know him that well,” you both fell silent, keeping your eyes on the sidewalk. “Yet…” a huff of air came from Sans’ nose.

“geez kid, isn’t it weird to be buddy buddy with your professor?” 

“Not really. I have friends that go drinking with their professors all the time.” 

Sans looked like he was contemplating something. His thinking face was rather cute. His brows pulled together and his grin was settled horizontally. 

“i’ll have ta take you up on that.” he said suddenly. His cheeks were dusted blue. Yours weren’t any better, and you knew that. 

“Hey! I never-” you stopped. Why were you getting so flustered? It was just a drink. There was nothing weird about it. With a small feeling of defeat, you looked down at the ground. 

“Yeah, it’d be fun.” you managed to squeak out. 

“WE HAVE ARRIVED!” Papyrus boomed in front of us. He stood boastfully in front of a small grocery store. The name was just that; Grocery Store. The tall skeleton laughed and ran through the automatic doors leaving you and Sans to run after him. 

The warmth of a heater hit your skin. You caught a glimpse of Papyrus running from aisle to aisle. You chuckled and walked to the location of pet supplies. Sans stayed close. 

“your cat picky?” he asked, glancing at the wide array of cat food brands. You shrugged. 

“I have no idea. I really only ever get him one kind anyway.” 

“sounds like he’s pretty spoiled to me,”

“What? Not really? Is he? I don’t know.”

“hey relax, he must be pretty fur-tunate,” Sans stated more casually than you think he should have. His eyes were shut calmly. Was he walking like that the whole time? 

You hesitantly waved a hand in front of his face. He only chuckled and opened one lid to glance at you. 

“you’re kitten me right?” you jumped, a little embarrassed, and continued searching for your go-to cat food. 

“I don’t know! Your eyelids transparent or something? How can you walk with your eyes closed?” 

“who knows, but i’ve yet to cause a cat-astrophe,” 

“Sans…” you huffed. “You’re a cat-ass-trophe,” Sans moved a bony hand to his chest and clutched his jacket, wincing as if in pain. 

“ouch, despite my hurt feelings, i’d have ta that one was purrrfect,” 

“SANS!” Papyrus emerged from around the corner holding an entire basket of pasta making ingredients. “I COULD HEAR YOUR TERRIBLE JOKES FROM ACROSS THE STORE.” 

“sorry paps, i’ll try to keep my hair-larious jokes to a mew-nimum,” 

“SANS!”

You both chuckled as Papyrus stared daggers into his brother. Finally, your eyes caught the familiar sight of bland, boring, name brand cat food. You snatched it up and began walking to the register. Honestly, you were hoping to get out of this situation as soon as possible. 

You placed the bag onto the conveyor and Papyrus placed his basket next to it. 

“Um…” you weren’t about to pay for someone’s food that you’d just met. You were struggling for funds as it was. 

“DON’T WORRY HUMAN, WE WILL PURCHASE YOUR CAT’S SUSTENANCE ALONG WITH MINE!” Papyrus eagerly ran ahead of you to talk to the cashier. 

“Oh, I couldn’t ask you to do that!” you tried to pull out your wallet, but Papyrus was already done. Great, now you were going to have to pay them back. Sans seemed to notice your discomfort. 

“hey, no sweat kid. we wanna do it. don’t worry ‘bout paying us back,” he smiled warmly at you. You blushed and looked at your feet. These guys were willing to pay for your stuff after just meeting you. Did that make them nice or stupid? Did that make you smart or a complete asshole? You had no idea. 

Papyrus had grabbed all the bags and was now running back outside. Too much energy. 

The skeleton brothers insisted in walking you home. As nice as a gesture as it was, you were really looking forward to some peace and quiet. You and Sans had made small talk the entire way back and Papyrus only interjected occasionally. The moment you saw your apartment complex come into view, you felt your heart jump. 

“This is me,” you said awkwardly. Why did this feel like an end to a first date? What? 

“WE ARE GOING TO MISS YOU! YOU MUST COME VISIT!” Papyrus enveloped you into a hug, crushing your lungs only slightly. You coughed when he put you down, put you smiled and thanked him nonetheless. You glanced at Sans next. Your heart jumped differently this time. You didn’t really want to go now. 

“i’ll see ya tomorrow yeah? gonna get into some serious soul business,” you giggled and nodded slowly. 

“SANS YOU NEVER MENTIONED SHE WAS ONE OF YOUR NEW HUMANS AT WORK!” Papyrus looked absolutely star struck. The smaller skeleton simply turned a light shade of blue and stratched the back of his skull. 

“sorry paps, guess it never came up,” 

Why would it? You thought. Why wouldn’t it, actually…?

“Tomorrow,” you finger gunned the brothers and sunk through the complex gate. It swung open with a heavy screech. 

Some serious soul business sounded incredibly exciting.


	4. Mouse Parallels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some soul action.

You literally jumped out of bed, almost throwing Oliver to the ground with your blankets. You promised yourself you weren’t going to show up early today, but that promise was immediately crushed into a tiny ball and swallowed the minute your alarm went off. 

 

With reckless abandon, you threw clothes across your room before finally finding your new-ish tights. You slipped them on along with a black skirt, and some brown calf high boots. You pulled a cream colored sweater over your head and ran to the bathroom. Oliver mewed at you from the hallway. 

 

Brushing your teeth was a race at this point. Water flew everywhere, creating spots on the mirror you were going to have to clean later. You curled your hair into calm waves and put on your usual make-up. Once again, you ran through your apartment, dumping food in a bowl for Oli, checking his water, grabbing a banana, and zooming out your door. 

 

You’re not being too eager, are you? 

 

Your mind flashed to Sans’ lazy grin. 

 

Of course not. 

 

As you speed walked to school, your eyes were glued to your phone. The minutes went by so slow. It read 9:25. Wow maybe you were being a little eager. 

 

No! Of course not! This is completely… rational… You nervously chomped on your banana. 

 

Racing through hallways and opening doors a little more aggressively than intended, you turned the corner to your classroom. Your heart was beating louder and louder the closer you got. As you reached the door, however, you realized the lights were off. And… the door was locked. 

 

“Oh…” with a small sigh, you resulted in sitting in front of the door and finishing your banana. This is what you get for being crazy. 

 

The time ticked by… 9:35… 9:40… 9:45…9:50-

 

“hey,” 

 

“Sans!” you beamed. Then immediately retracted your excitement as your face heated up. Holy shit you really needed to relax. 

 

“if i knew you were comin’ early again i woulda gotten pap to wake me up,” he smiled warmly at you. You kind of wanted to die. 

 

“I-It’s fine! I just wanted to- to get here early because I- Uh,” stop talking. “It’s more practical for me,” yeah… super convincing. Sans’ eyes glanced at the banana peel in your hand. 

 

“were you plannin’ some prank or somethin’ kid?” you chuckled and went along with it. 

 

“You caught me.” you shrugged sheepishly. Sans dug his keys out of his pocket and began unlocking the door. 

 

“careful, bananas ‘er slippery. i might end up fallin’ for ya,” he opened the door and stepped in the classroom before you had any time to react. You sat there for a moment, a little flustered, before attempting to compose yourself and walking in the room. 

 

Sans had heaved off the same blue jacket you saw him in yesterday to reveal his more professional clothes. He, of course, proceeded to plop down in his chair and close his eyes. 

 

You sat in the same chair you had before. It felt oddly far away today. You looked up to make sure Sans wasn’t looking and slipped into a chair one row up and farther to the right. When you sat down, the legs scrapped across the floor. You froze. Sans’ eyes snapped open and he looked at you with a confused look. You slouched a bit and waved, avoiding eye contact. 

 

“nicer view?” 

 

“Mhm!” you said all too enthusiastically. “Felt a little cold by the window also…” you stared at the ground intently. You could hear the smile in Sans’ voice. 

 

“i wish i could say i understand, but, no skin, yknow?” 

 

“Right…” 

 

Silence. You set your elbows down on the desk in front of you and rested your head in your hands. It was kind of a bummer that today felt a lot like the first day of class. You were hoping the excursion yesterday would have broken the ice just a bit more. The room dripped with awkward poise and you were thanking god that Sans had showed up later than you’d planned. 

 

“y’know... i ain’t much of a guy for small talk, but uh… yesterday was kinda nice. i don’t get out much.” 

 

“Oh?” This sudden spark of curiousness washed over you. Sans just stared out the window. 

 

“yeah. s’part of the reason why pap wanted me to get this job so bad.” the skeleton tapped his finger against the table. “and seein’ how humans react to monster stuff is always fun.”

 

“Your brothers… nice.” 

 

Sans laughed warmly at that. He sat up in his chair and waved a hand dismissively. 

 

“he’s enthusiastic. he talked about ya the whole way home.” Sans’ head rested on his hand, and the way he looked at you was making your stomach churn. His eyes were lidded and his smirk was pulled slightly higher on the right side of his skull. You swore his eye lights buzzed brighter for a moment. 

 

“R-Really? I’m not anything special.” 

 

“if you say so.” 

 

Suddenly, the pleasant atmosphere that was just beginning to form was crumbling down. Students began finding their way into their seats and Sans’ attention on you was shifted elsewhere. You’d be lying if you said it didn’t bother you some. Soon, everyone began to settle. 

 

“alright. i guess we’ll start off with the basics.” the skeleton held his arm out in front of him and one of his eyes began to glow. The class was full of astonished faces and whispers. A beautiful blue filled the classroom; with the main source emanating from Sans’ palm. It pulsated almost like a heartbeat. “this, is a soul.” Sans stated plainly. In his hand now floated a cyan blue heart. It looked like gelatin, but something inside you told you it wouldn’t taste very good. 

 

“well... not really. this is just what they look like. see, to you guys, you’d say this is a heart. you each have one of those in your chests to keep the blood pumpin’ or whatever.” he gestures to himself with his free hand. “i for one don’t have either of those.” small chuckles echoed throughout the room. “we all, however, have souls.” the “soul” began floating a little higher above Sans’ hand. 

 

“souls are the very culmination of our being. they’re what makes us, us.” suddenly, the soul began fading through colors: blue, yellow, green, orange, purple, and red. You couldn’t help but let out a tiny gasp. “each color represents a trait. these traits do not define you entirely, but they do represent you at your core. green is kindness, orange is bravery, blue is integrity, cyan is patience, purple is perseverance, yellow is justice, and red is determination.” Sans looked a little more fondly at the red soul. He paused on it for a moment. 

 

“How do we know what color soul we have?” the girl next to you asked. She was the same girl that sat next to you last class. Her notebook was open to an already full page of notes. Oops, were you supposed to be taking notes right now? Before you could decide, Sans pulled you out of your thoughts. 

 

“that can be done a number of ways. the easiest is to ask a monster. but not all monsters are able to see souls without a combat sequence.” 

 

“Do you know what color your soul is?” another question erupted. The soul in Sans’ hand changed again. This time to a cool grey. 

 

“human souls are always seen as the color of their trait. if someone has a green soul, their soul will always appear green. monsters’ souls- when viewed from inside the body, are grey. when pulled out however, they change to the color of that monster’s core trait. this can make it hard to tell what trait a monster has without pulling it out.” his smile faltered a bit as the soul turned cyan. “mine looks kind of like this.” 

 

You stared at it, because- well, why wouldn't you? You were aware that this wasn’t Sans’ actual soul, but it sure did seem like it. You tentatively raised your hand. Sans’ eyes darted to yours. 

 

“yeah?” 

 

“Can we see your real soul?” his eyes widened a bit for a moment, and a small blush appeared on his cheeks. The fake soul disappeared and with a blink of an eye, Sans regained composure. 

 

“nah.” 

 

“Why not?” the girl next to you asked, raising her hand. 

 

“it’s something very personal. which we’ll probably get to later.” 

 

You were a little disappointed, and a little embarrassed, but you wanted to know more nonetheless. Sans stood from his chair and walked in front of his desk. He leaned against it casually and gripped the edge behind him. 

 

“if i got a volunteer, we’ll take a look at someone’s soul. through a combat sequence of course.” Immediately, a million hands shot into the air and the clatter of “Me!”s were deafening. You had raised your hand too and looked towards the skeleton pleadingly. Whatever color you had, you were sure it’d be amazing to see it with your own eyes. Sans locked eyes with you, and you were sure he was going to pick you. Instead, he looked away quickly and picked a boy near the back with a neon yellow windbreaker. You frowned. 

 

“alright. rules.” Sans stated as the kid made his way to the front. “absolutely no attacking. that’s pretty much it.” Sans smiled big as they stood in front of each other. If you weren’t in this class, you would have assumed something bad was going on. “ready?” 

 

“Hell yeah!” 

 

Two loud binging sounds echoed throughout the room, and suddenly 4 orange rectangles appeared near the floor. They hovered over the tile just slightly.   
  
“Fight”

 

“Act”

 

“Item”

 

“Mercy”

 

Stats also appeared, but they were under their respective participants. Sans only had one HP. You’d played enough video games to know what that meant. Both his attack and defense were 1 as well. The no attack rule seemed imperative now. The windbreaker guy had an HP of 25. His attack was 5 and his defense was 20.    


Your eyes finally landed on the thing you were supposed to be looking at. In front of the kid, was a beautiful glowing purple heart. 

 

“perseverance. don’t see those often.” 

 

“Dude that’s crazy…” the guy couldn’t take his eyes off his soul. You couldn’t either. The desire to see your soul, and Sans’ soul, skyrocketed. 

 

“you could say that. anyway, go ahead and hit mercy for me.” with hesitation, he did. The rectangles went away along with the soul. “alright, that’s enough for now. see you all next week.” 

 

You were completely unsatisfied. 

 

Everyone began clearing out, talking excitedly among themselves. Your attention was lost at the moment, and you were now the last one in the class with Sans. 

 

“hey,” his baritone voice snapped you back to reality. 

 

“Oh, sorry, um, that was awesome. I’m dying to know what my soul looks like now!” your cheeks hurt from how big your smile became. Sans nodded and chuckled. 

 

“yeah, it’s always a fun thing.” 

 

“Why didn’t you pick me?” you asked quietly. “Not that I thought you would! It’s just… you looked right at me so…” 

 

Sans rubbed the back of his skull. 

 

“right. i can show it to ya eventually. just thought right now ain’t the time.” 

 

“That seems oddly cryptic?” you huffed. Sans chuckled again and grabbed his jacket off his chair. 

“maybe. well, i’ll see ya next week. unless papyrus drags you along for somethin’ this weekend. he really likes ya.” 

 

“Oh. That’s sweet of him.” You said mindlessly as you gathered your things. 

 

“yeah.” 

 

Sans began walking towards the door and you followed close behind. You caught a whiff of pine, and dirty laundry. That was a surprise. He stopped to the right of the door and let you walk out. You stopped and turned to look at him and his eyes lidded again. He flicked the light off and shut the door, closing the space between you slightly. 

 

“i think you’re pretty great too.” his head moved the tiniest bit closer. His eyes searched through yours thoughtfully. “i’ll definitely see you later.” 

 

You squeeked, and he was gone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't planning on getting this up so late, but here we are!
> 
> Sans... some personal space please?


End file.
